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| Always seek one another... |
It took until I was working at 19yrs before
my Dad stopped working two fulltime-ish jobs.
As a result, I hardly knew him.
Then I moved to college and still did not have the opportunity to know
this man that helped bring me into being.
The few moments I got with him were enough to know he loved me, that he
was funny and generally liked people. In
’88 I was married and seven years later, when I was 28, my Dad passed
away. Sometime in between, my jealousy
was stirred when a co-worker of mine told me things about my Dad that I never
knew.
See, there were only two stories he told me
about his life- both in the year before he died, and one precious moment that I remember
as a child but most of what I have are vague wisps of memories like fleeing
shadows. Looking at him lying in that
casket, the only regrets I had were for lost time that should have been used to
get to know each other. He wasn’t a
perfect Dad, but he was mine.
Regrets should be avoided when possible. I can’t change the situation with my Dad, but
when I was sixteen I was adopted into the family of Jehovah, who became my
Father. The one whom I always thought of
as a distant and angry God turned out to be a loving and caring Dad to me. It was mostly a one sided relationship as I
still wanted to be my independent self and just include Him now and then in my
life. I never realized how I was
treating Him like my relationship with my earthly Dad.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that you are no longer a
slave, but a son… Gl. 4:6,7
…you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we
cry, Abba, Father! Rm. 8:15
Behold what manner of love the Father has given us,
that we should be called children of God… 1Jh. 3:1
There was a lot of backsliding in the
first couple of decades; months of time that I ignored the Lord, and yet He
took me back when I’d return to Him after realizing my foolishness. As I look back, I was still fitting Him into
bits and pieces of my life, but was never fully surrendered. Eventually I realized how my Father God
always wanted to be involved in all my life, every day, every hour, being with
me, sharing my life, loving me…
…You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength, and with all your mind… Lk.. 10:27 (Notice the word ALL)
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| Father and daughter hanging out. |
My regrets
are now the time I lost in getting to know my heavenly Father, and even though
I recognize all my past helped bring me to this great place I am now, I
sometimes wonder how much better I would know Him if I hadn’t wasted all that
time. That was time I lost because of
ME. So I don’t want to do that any
more. I refuse to live without Him. Nothing and no one is as important to me as
my Lord, my Father. Finally, living life
with Him without regrets. And that life
with Him is the most amazing, exciting, crazy, fun, joyful, peaceful, awesome,
inspiring- abundant life I have ever experienced.
…one thing I do,
forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, I press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Php.
3:13,14
To You my True, Everlasting Father,
I thank You for never giving up on me.
I am grateful You graciously accepted me home every
time I strayed.
...so very grateful!
And it’s not for what You can do for me, but for who You are
that I love You now
more than ever before.
Happy Father’s Day!!!